Not The Time For Jealousy
by avaenx
Summary: Neji and Tenten have been team mates for 10 years, and that's all they've ever seen each other as - team mates. So why is this peculiar mission they've been assigned to changing that? And why on earth is Neji of all people getting jealous? Gets off to a slow start, but action in further chapters!
1. The Mission

**Authors note: Considering this is my first fanfic I don't really know what to say. I've been reading plenty of NejiTen stuff lately and I love them all, so I thought I'd give it a shot myself. As I begun watching the dubbed version of Naruto I'm used to putting given names before surnames, and I'm not very used to the 'sama', 'san', 'chan' kind of thing, but I ****_have _****watched some subbed episodes and read the manga so if anyone wants me to change the way I write names, then just let me know!**

**If you'd give me a review it would be appreciated so I can see what the highlights and lowlights so far are. I guess there isn't much else to say, so enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

Tenten's kunai knife flew at him with enough force and precision that anyone else would think it would hit and kill her target without a doubt, but considering her target was Neji Hyuga, Tenten knew that there was no chance it would even graze him. Even if she was a talented weapons mistress, Neji was, well, a Hyuga, and a genius one at that.

That's what she liked about sparring with Neji. She could go at him with the intent to kill and know that no matter what she threw at him, he would effortlessly defend himself. He was the best person to polish off her skills with.

As she thought, the kunai was easily dodged, he didn't even have to use his rotation for that one. Tenten silently 'hmphed' to herself. Although he was the best person to polish her skills off with, he was also the one who diminished her confidence most.

"Don't get distracted," Neji said, as he ran towards her. She always thought that his run should be classified as more of a dance- it was too graceful to be degraded to a mere 'run'. She threw four shuriken in his direction, to which he responded by simply moving aside as he continued his dance toward her.

_Crap_, she thought. She had no time to defend herself as he halted before her, and simultaneously plunged his palm forwards towards her chest. He stopped it, as he had every other training session when they fought and he got the better of her.

Tenten sighed in defeat, and smiled up at him, to which he didn't respond to. Neji was hard like that– he was one of the most peculiar men she had met. She knew he wasn't an emotionless robot, but he sure liked to act like it. By now though, she was used to it. They had been teammates for nearly 10 years now, and although the whole team was now classified as jounin, they stuck together, as did the other teams of her generation in Konoha. She had always thought they would break up and go their separate ways, but she was glad they never did. No doubt her team was kind of… strange, but they worked well together all the same.

"Neji! Tenten!" Speaking of other team mates, "Lady Hokage has summoned us! It is urgent! Let us go!" The green spandex monster was radiating with energy, as if he ever didn't.

"Alright. We finished training, anyways," Neji replied, expressionless as always.

Tenten watched as her friends walked on. She could hear Lee saying "I will get to the Hokage's office in 5 minutes! If I do not, I must do the whole mission on one foot!"

Tenten sighed. She had been doing that a lot lately. "You don't even know if she summoned us for a mission, Lee."

"Well we will not know until we get there!" And with that, he sped off.

She caught up with Neji and started off to the Hokage's quarters.

* * *

What awaited Tenten was not what she was expecting. 12 familiar faces and a dog looked towards her and Neji as they walked through the door. Sakura, Naruto, Sai, Hinata, Kiba (accompanied by Akamaru), Shino, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Lee, Shizune and of course the Hokage all looked towards them. What was this all about? Confusion filled Tentens senses.

"You're late!" Tsunade said, with her usual scary temperament about her.

"Sorry, Lady Hokage." The two of them spoke their apology in unison, which Tenten had to admit to herself, sounded pretty damn cool.

"Come join the rest of your friends gathered around here. I have a mission for you all."

Lee brightened up. "Aha! So it was for a mission!" A few people gave him a 'what is he talking about?' look, but the rest of them were used to his gibberish babble.

When they were all gathered a close distance around Tsunade's desk, she looked up at them all. "I'm choosing you twelve for this mission because I know that you all work well together. We don't know what we're looking for here – the mission has not been requested by anyone. I'm the one who is putting you guys up to the task." She paused for a moment, taking it everyone's unwavering gazes. If the Hokage was specifically requesting people for a mission of her own, it must be serious. "I feel like something weird is going to happen in the village. I won the lottery jackpot twice in a row."

Everyone's serious expressions changed in an instant as they all slumped in dissatisfaction, apart from Naruto who nodded in agreement with the Hokage.

"If I may say, Lady Hokage, but that is hardly any reason to call up a mission. You said it yourself, we don't even know what we're looking for," Shino spoke up, and a few people grunted in agreement.

"It's all the reason I need! And I'm not finished yet. Recently, an ANBU member reported that his most powerful justu stopped working for about an hour or two. Another shinobi reported the same thing just today. They don't know what stopped it, it just happened, and it was right here in Konoha. I want you twelve to go about your normal daily lives –no, I want you to go out more often than not, and make sure you wear your headbands to confirm that you are a shinobi. Report back to me immediately if you have any of these symptoms or see something even a little bit suspicious." She sounded crazy to Tenten, which was hard for her to admit since she looked up to Tsunade for being such a powerful kunoichi. It wasn't like she was going to question it though, it was nearly like having holidays – she would be able to relax. She thought she deserved it after how hard she had been working lately.

"With all due respect, Lady Hokage, this mission is near impossible," Neji spoke up this time. "You have given us no specifics or details that are needed. For all we know it could just be a coincidence that the two shinobi you spoke of could not use their jutsu. "

Kiba nodded in approval. "Maybe they just need to train more, right Akamaru?" All he got in response was an "Arf!" which didn't give him much backup as nobody here could speak dog – apart from maybe Kiba himself.

"Hmm, I dunno," Naruto interjected. "When Granny Tsunade wins the lottery something has to be wrong. Not to mention it happened twice."

Sakura growled next to him. "You idiot! Two shinobi were unable to use their jutsu for a while which is obviously a problem, and you're worried about the Hokage winning the lottery!" She punched him on the head to which he responded to by shutting up.

"I don't care what any of you think, this a mission specifically requested by me – the Hokage. You will do your job and you will do it diligently! You shouldn't be complaining about being about to go out frequently – you're young, if I were you I would love this mission. But it's no chance to slack off, have fun but do it with caution." Was that even possible? Even so, anyone who went against the Hokages orders obviously had a death wish.

Tenten glanced up at Neji. He didn't look happy, but he didn't look like he was going to refuse the mission either. She silently noted to herself how she hadn't noticed how pronounced his jawline had gotten, and then cursed herself for enjoying the sight.

"I will do this mission and succeed with flying colours! If I do not, I will do 500 laps around the village!" _Oh boy,_ Tenten thought to herself. Lee was probably the only one here who didn't see this as a slacker's mission, but he always did find ways to improve himself in the silliest of ways.

"Yeah! You can count on us granny!" Naruto was enthusiastic too. Wasn't he the one always complaining about going on easy missions?

"Good. I expect reports in from at least one of you every other day. You're dismissed."

* * *

The group wandered out of the Hokage's quarters, Ino chatting away to Sakura about her plans for the week, Hinata and Naruto engaged in chat, Choji munching away at chips, Shikamaru gazing longingly at the sky, Kiba riding Akamaru, Shino keeping his silent, creepy act going, and Lee…

"Hwaaa! What on earth are you doing Lee?" The rest of the group first looked at Tenten for her sudden outburst, but then followed her eyes to Lee, who was walking on his hands. How could they not have noticed him first? How could Tenten have not noticed him first?

"I am training! I must be in tip top shape for this mission!" His determination always clouded his judgement on how much of a fool he looked like.

"How does walking on your hands help that? Ha!" Kiba seemed to think it was the funniest thing in the world. Tenten on the other hand was simply filled with second hand embarrassment from her teammate.

"I will not let your words bring me down! I will keep walking until I have done 50 laps around the village!" Was what he was doing even classified as walking?

Tenten simply sighed and decided to walk on ahead of Lee, alongside Ino and Sakura.

"So Tenten," Ino started, smirking, "wanna come clubbing with me and Sakura tonight? We figure it's the perfect excuse to be going out every night, with this mission and all, so we decided we'd have a girls night! We'll invite Hinata, too."

Clubbing? Tenten… Clubbing? No, those words didn't match. Even for her 18th birthday, when she was finally of age to drink, she didn't go clubbing, she just indulged in buying herself weapons and scrolls to seal them in. No way was she going _clubbing._ Thinking desperately for an excuse, she smiled weakly and started, "I uh- clubbing… Isn't my exactly my thing. Plus tonight I was planning on… On working on a new jutsu! But, tomorrow, if you'd like I'll do something with you, during the day that is."

Ino 'hmphed' "Sorry, Tenten, I'm busy tomorrow! I guess we can all just go clubbing another time."

"Ha… yeah." Tenten wasn't too sure about that. She would spend tonight thinking of excuses of why she couldn't go clubbing.

"I guess that means you have no plans for tomorrow, huh?" Ino smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that." Tenten wasn't even sure if she wanted to do something with Ino – she was nice, but they weren't close. It would have been too awkward.

"Oh it's fine. I'm sure I can find something, If not I can just train." She smiled back, trying to be as convincing as possible.

"Tenten, if you want we can go out tomorrow." She looked behind her. She knew it was Neji who spoke from his voice, but it just sounded _weird_. Neji saying, 'we can go out tomorrow'? No, she was reading too much into it. It was for the mission. "We'll train," he continued on. Ha. Definitely reading too much into it.

"Sure," she smiled back at him. "We'll just meet at our usual training spot?"

"No. Let's get food first." She gaped at him, involuntarily. _Neji_ inviting _Tenten _to get _food? _He obviously noticed the expression on her face, because he continued on again. "For the mission to be successful we will need to be in as many places as possible; if we just stay at the same spot and train all day, we will be of no use."

"Yeah, I knew that. So, how about Ichiraku at eleven?" She hoped he liked ramen.

"Yes, don't be late." He replied back cooly. She turned around so she was no longer looking over her shoulder at him, and had a sudden realisation. Even if she was reading too much into it, she was getting food. With Neji. And she was excited.

* * *

**Authors note: So I kind of have a good idea of where this is going. The first chapter doesn't really reveal much, and I'm not too happy with my writing. It's not up to scratch as I haven't written anything at all for a while – but I've edited it a few times and I'm afraid that's as good as it gets. I hope you all enjoyed it! Stay tuned, I'll post the next chapter as soon as possible.**

**I'd also like to note that I'm from Australia, so the legal drinking age here is 18, where it might be different in other places. (In case you were wondering about Tenten not going clubbing on her 18th birthday.)**


	2. The Embarrassment

**Okay, so first of all I would like to say thank you to the people who read my story and reviewed. It is much appreciated J**

**Second, I'd like to say that from now on I'm going to make an effort to try and make the chapters longer. I always preferred to read stories with longer chapters, but I don't quite know exactly how I'm going to fill the space without it getting boring – there are a few scenes I want to write but if I just dive straight into them now it wouldn't make sense. So, here comes the hard part… The build up. I'm silently wishing myself luck.**

**The last thing I would like to add, is that I hope you enjoy it. **

* * *

Neji was wating at Ichiraku when Tenten arrived. She wasn't particularly late, he was just early. He hadn't much to do and he knew he wouldn't have had enough time to have a good session of meditation, so instead he just readied himself and went to Ichiraku. Now that he thought back at it, he wasn't quite sure why he spoke up and invited her out. He knew that this mission was peculiar, but he also knew that any enemies were less likely to attack if they were in a group, although as it was, two people weren't much of a group at all. Even so, after he invited her he wasn't quite sure how to take it back, so he went along with it.

Tenten sat down at the seat next to him, in a quick, lithe movement. "Hey, Neji!" she beamed.

"Hello, Tenten."

The chef approached them. Neji thought it would have been rude to begin eating before she was there, so he'd told him to wait til his friend arrived.

"What can I get you two youngsters today?" He asked, cheerfully.

Tenten spoke first, "I'll have whatever is on special, please!"

The chef looked up at the specials board with a worried expression. "Are you sure you can handle that much spice?"

Tenten puffed her face out, looking rather young instead of offended. "Of course I can!" Ha. And she hadn't even looked to see what the dish was. Neji scanned over the specials board and saw that it was a dish with lots and lots of different chilli, and then some more spices to complement it. _Ugh, spices_, he thought.

"Okay." He still looked uneasy, but didn't protest. "What about you, young man?" He asked, directing the question at Neji.

He didn't usually eat here, so he wasn't quite sure what to order. "I'll have anything, just no spices."

The chef nodded and went off to cook.

They sat there without talking for a few minutes, but it wasn't like Neji minded. He liked silence, although the sound of pots and pans ruined it.

"So, Neji," Tenten started. "I was thinking that maybe we could stop at a weapons shop on the way to training? They're having a sale and I don't want to miss out, plus –" she stopped as their ramen order was placed in front of them. "Oh, thank you sir." She smiled at the chef.

"Thank you," Neji said. He looked down at his food. Fishcakes, pork and some unidentified broth. He wasn't exactly sure if broth could be identified unless the cook told you what it was, but it was obvious the chef didn't plan on telling him, because he'd left them alone after he'd given them their food, and Neji didn't care enough to ask. He turned to Tenten and realised whatever words she hadn't finished before obviously been forgotten the moment she begun eating. She was eating her food like she hadn't eaten all week, stuffing it into her mouth that he was surprised that she had time to swallow.

Tenten must have noticed him looking because she stopped and looked back at him. "Oh," she muttered. Then she burst out laughing out of what he could see was embarrassment over anything else. "Sorry, I woke up late and didn't have time for breakfast. I kind of forgot that I'm supposed to be well mannered in public." She laughed again, nervously and then went silent. He had thought she must have just been ashamed, but instead of just going back to eat like she normally would, her face turned rather red and scared.

Before he could ask her what had happened, she painfully squeaked "That was hot. Need something cold! Need something cold!"

Neji smirked. Exactly why he hated spicy food. He didn't see any water around, so he pushed over his bowl of ramen to Tenten without thinking. It wasn't going to be cold, but at least it would wash away the spice a little bit.

Tenten didn't hesitate to take it and gulp down the broth. First, relief showed on her face, then it was followed up by realisation. _Shes just a ball of emotions today,_ Neji thought.

"Oh, I'm sorry Neji. I wasn't thinking," Tenten smiled, weakly. "I'll pay for it."

"No, it's okay. I'll pay, after all I did offer it to you. Anyway, although it isn't bad, ramen isn't my cup of tea. You can have the noodles as well, if you want." Her face dropped, but he wasn't sure why. After all, he had just offered her more food.

"Thank you, Neji. I'm fine though, I think I've eaten enough for now. I did almost eat my one in little over a minute. Big mistake, I'm full as a bull." He chuckled. 'Full as a bull was a new one. He hadn't heard Tenten, let alone anyone say it before. Not only that, but she wouldn't have been able to digest her food that fast, she couldn't have been as full as a bull even if she tried. He didn't mind the lie though, and decided that he needed to change the subject.

"So, what were you saying about the weapons shop?"

Tentens face brightened. It always did at the mention of weapons. "Oh, yeah! They're having a sale that I don't really want to miss out on, plus it would be good for the mission to try and be in as many places as possible, right?"

"We can go. But a warning, even if we are in a secluded area, I wouldn't talk about the mission like that. We may be alone in here, apart from the chef, but out there it's bustling with people, we don't know who could be listening." He wouldn't have thought that he would have had to explain such a simple concept to Tenten, she was a good kunoichi, and she wasn't one of those people like Naruto who would let little things blow their cover. Apart from the obvious, the difference between Tenten and Naruto was that if Naruto was on your team there was no way for you to lose, as much as Neji didn't like to admit it to himself. Tenten was good, but if she was stuck with the wrong opponent, like Temari at the chunin exams, things wouldn't fair well.

She furrowed her brow. "It's not like it's a secret mission. Plus, you spoke of it yesterday at the Hokages Tower."

He just glared at her. That always worked.

She raised her hands up in defeat. "Okay, okay, fine. I won't speak of it again."

He smirked back at her. "So where is this weapons shop you speak of?"

She gasped. "So you've never been there? Where do you get all your ninja tools from?" She genuinely looked surprised, as if this was a big thing.

"I get them from the Hyuga household."

"Oh, yeah makes sense," Tenten shrugged. "Anyways, let's just pay and I'll show you the way there."

Neji took out his wallet and threw enough money on the counter for him and Tenten, and then some. She obviously didn't notice because she was counting the money in her own purse, so instead he decided to wait outside until she realised he'd paid for her.

"Hurry up," he called.

"Wait, I'm counting my money."

He sighed and reached inside the shop and grabbed her by the arm. It was unlike him, but he didn't want her to waste her money if he'd already paid for the both of them.

"What was that for?" she asked, angrily, when she was out of the shop. "I still need to pay!"

"I paid for the both of us, now show us the way to the shop."

She looked like she was going to protest, but he glared at her as he had before and she slumped her shoulders. "Thanks, Neji. It's up this way a bit."

* * *

They had walked leisurely with idle chit chat until they reached the shop. It was like all the shops in the district, small, but they used their space efficiently all the same. Neji just waited outside, but he could see all the different ninja tools from the window. He wondered if the Hyugas got their weapons from simple shops like this one.

"Hey, Neji!" He didn't have to turn around to see who it was. His distinctive voice and the smell of _dog_ gave it away. "What are you doing here? Just moving around for the mission?"

Neji didn't bother giving the same lecture he had to Tenten to Kiba. He wouldn't have listened, or cared. Neji didn't care that much, either. He doubted they were going to succeed in this mission anyways.

"I'm waiting outside here for Tenten," he answered.

"Oooooh," Kiba gave him a look that meant he thought something more of it than there actually was. "Heh. So you guys dating or what?"

Neji tried to make his eyes as cold as possible when he looked at Kiba. Unfortunately it didn't effect Kiba nearly as much as it did Tenten. He sighed and looked away. "No, we're teammates."

"So?" Kiba waited, but Neji didn't answer. "So does that mean shes single?"

Neji did a double take. Did Kiba just ask if Tenten was single? He tried not to let emotion show on his face, although he was fuming. How _improper?_ "Like she would go for you, anyway."

Akamaru growled. "Hey, it's okay boy," Kiba spoke to him with a smile, as if nothing had happened. "Look, Neji, if you want her you can have her. I was just asking."

"You shouldn't speak about her as if she were an object that someone should have claim on. As I said, she's a teammate and that's all I see her as. I'm looking out for her, that's it." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them, but it wasn't like he regretted them. He liked the look on Kibas face when he took the words in, although he had to admit to himself, he wasn't quite sure when this dislike for Kiba came about.

"Hey, you listen here! I wasn't putting claim on her, I was just asking!" Kiba kept barking out words like a dog, but Neji just got up and joined Tenten inside the weapons shop. He thought he heard growling from outside, but he simply let it go. He wouldn't give Kiba the time of day.

He focused his attention on Tenten, who was ushering a shop clerk over. Of course, she hadn't even noticed him come in.

"Excuse me, sir?" She asked.

"How can I help you?"

"Is this one on sale?" She asked with pleading eyes. He could tell that she was crossing her fingers on the inside. He diverted his attention to the item she was asking about. It was a long, blue trident. He couldn't see details from where he was, but he was pretty sure he could see a bit of a pattern working its way up to the spikes at the head of the weapon. It sure looked expensive, but if it was on sale he knew Tenten would buy it, and then use it so much that it would be blunt within a week. He smiled to himself. He liked that about her. While other girls took the time out of their days to look nice, and shop around for dresses and makeup, Tenten was up and at 'em straight away, and the only shopping she did was for the weapons she held so dearly, and basic, comfy clothing.

"Sorry, miss," Said the clerk. "That one isn't on sale."

She slumped her shoulders. He almost felt bad for her. "Oh, okay. Thanks, anyways." She smiled, and then turned around, surprise showing on her face when she saw Neji a couple of meters away from her.

"Oh, I thought you were waiting outside. Anyways, I'm done here, if you want to go train."

"Okay, let's go." Neji took one last look at the clerk, who looked sad to see a customer like Tenten leave, and then they headed out the door.

* * *

Tenten threw her kunai at the target, with enough force to knock the other one that was already at the bullseye off the board completely. She was home now, in her backyard, and she was glad to finally be back.

She had been such an _idiot_ today. She gulped down her food like she was a starving child who hadn't learnt manners, and then realised how spicy the food was afterwards, which only added to the embarrassment. And then, Neji told her he didn't like ramen and even offered her his own. He must've really hated ramen. Then after that, Neji would have seen how she couldn't afford that trident that she wanted to buy. It all was too embarrassing.

After that, all the thoughts clouding her mind prevented her from doing well in training, the only time she could've redeemed herself.

She didn't know why she cared so much. She'd never really cared what people thought of her. Neji and Lee were her closest friends, but even so they weren't really more than teammates. Sure, they had their moments, like telling stories around campfires, when even Neji would crack a smile, but they didn't hang out outside of missions.

They did know her well though, and that's what she thought annoyed her most about today – Neji knew her behaviour pattern so well that he would've been able to tell that she was nervous. She didn't even know why she was nervous herself, who knew what kind of conclusions he would come up with.

Sure, she couldn't deny that Neji was not only smart and strong, but good looking, too. Tenten knew a cute guy when she saw one, but it never stopped her from being relaxed and casual around them. It was so unlike her to get so… so _weird._

She sighed and walked back inside, not bothering to pick up her kunai.

What could she do tomorrow? There weren't many options. Maybe she would go to the Hokage and report what little there was that happened. It sure did beat staying at home all day, or walking around the streets of Konoha by herself.

Tenten dawdled into her room and collapsed on the bed, arms spread wide. That's what she would do tomorrow. Maybe if she reported that nothing happened, the Hokage would withdraw the mission and they could all go back to their normal ninja lives, with no stupid nerves or embarrassing moments.

She closed her eyes and hoped that tomorrow would be better than today.

* * *

When Tenten arrived at the Hokage's office, she didn't expect to see so many people there. Ino, Sakura, Kiba, and Neji, all seemed to have the idea of reporting in, too.

_Neji is here. Great._

"Nice to see you all here,. I hope this means there was some results," Lady Tsunade said.

_Not quite,_ Tenten thought.

"Let's start from left to right. Ino, what do you have to report in? Start from the very start of your day"

Ino was fidgeting. "Well, Lady Tsunade, not much actually happened. I got ready, went out for lunch with Choji and Shikamaru at the barbeque house. After that, I spent the rest of my day at the flower shop."

"Hn." Was all she said, "Next!"

Sakura spoke up. "All I did was go out for a little shopping and browse around town. Nothing of interest happened, except for I spent some time with Hinata who was previously with Kiba." Tenten thought she saw Neji shoot daggers at Kiba with his eyes. Wait, she was looking at Neji? _Get it together, Tenten!_

She zoned out for the rest of the recounts. It was obvious nothing had happened.

"Tenten. _Tenten!" _It was the Hokages not-yelling-but-very-angry voice.

Tenten 'eeped' involuntarily. She figured it was her turn now.

"My day consisted of getting out of bed late, going to eat ramen with Neji, then going to a weapons shop where there were weapons on sale, then after than Neji and I trained at our usual spot. I went home and trained some more, then I fell asleep."

Tenten saw a vein pop in the Hokages head. "You mean you all came here to report back _nothing?_ When I said at least one person, I only really meant one person. Next time, Sakura will report in. Then Ino, then Tenten, then Kiba, then Neji. Do not come unless it's your turn or you have something of value to tell me. You understand?"

They all agreed.

So much for Tentens plan for reporting nothing in and getting the mission dropped.

"Good. Now, leave!"

* * *

"Jeez, louise! The Hokage sure is worked up about this," Ino complained. "I wonder if she'll ever let this go. We didn't even find anything of any value."

"Tsch" said Kiba. "You can say that again."

"Whatever, I'm not going to complain about days off. Plus, I have clubbing to do," she narrowed her eyes at Tenten. "Isn't that right, Tenten?"

Tenten cringed, hoping Ino didn't see it. "Oh, really, there's no need to invite me along." She smiled, hoping it was convincing. "It's okay, really!"

"I'm not inviting you for pity, I'm inviting you because I want you to come. What are you doing tomorrow?" She asked.

"Uh, nothing I guess." Tenten wasn't getting out of this one, she realised.

"Good, we can go shopping! Then the day after that, we'll hit the clubs. You can come too, Neji and Kiba." Oh my. _Could it get any worse_?

"I really shouldn't, Ino," She had resigned herself to going, but if they were inviting Neji, she was not going to be a part of it. She thought things over, and realised Neji wouldn't go clubbing anyway. She would be safe from that, at least.

"You should come, it would be fun," Kiba spoke up.

"Huh?" was the only response she could get out.

"I _said _'you should come, it would be fun,'" he repeated, oblivious that her reaction was from surprise.

"Oh," she shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I could."

"Yay! Okay, I'll pick you up tomorrow for shopping at like 12. We can discuss all the details there, like what club and where we're getting ready and stuff. Sakura is coming too. Sound good?" Ino was a little too enthusiastic for Tentens liking, but she figured if she went once then there would be no reason for Ino to ask again. She thought that was how it worked, anyway.

"Ha, yeah. Okay."

Neji coughed. "I'll be coming, too." He smirked.

_Oh, no. Oh, no. Ohnoohnoohnoohno. _

Before she had a chance to get out of it, Kiba spoke up. "I think the guys should get a chance to choose what club we go to. After all, we might not see you before the day comes, right?"

Ino shrugged. "Yeah, go ahead. As long as it's a good club its fine with me."

"Well," Kiba started, "What do you say Neji? No private clubs where only people with big names can get in."

"I don't go to those clubs. I don't _care _where we go." Tenten shot Neji a look that he didn't notice. He was awfully cold today.

Kiba grinned. "Awesome. I say we go to the Crying Lightning club."

Ino grinned. "Okay, I've never been there but it sounds alright. So what do you say Tenten? Sound good"

"Yeah," she hoped she didn't sound as nervous as she was. "I'm looking forward to it."

Tenten was _not_ looking forward to this.

* * *

**Authors note: Okay, so I got the name of the club from a song, and it's an awesome song if I do say so myself. Anyway, all rights to that song go to the Arctic Monkeys and I don't own any of it.**

**This chapter wasn't that much longer, but I couldn't make it that much longer or else I would bore you all to death. I'll make up for it in the next chapter, hopefully. **

**I hope you all enjoyed it! Stay tuned because the fun will soon begin hehehehehehe.**


	3. The Wild Night

**So I'm going to try and make this chapter as exciting as possible to make up for the last two. There will be action in the later chapters and this is leading up to it, but I think this chapter will be just as exciting all the same. Stuff is happening! Yay! Anyways, enjoy.**

**Reviews would be appreciated!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

* * *

Tenten rolled her eyes. "No." It was about the tenth dress than Ino had suggested to her, and she wasn't interested in it, nor was she interested in any of the other dresses in the shop.

Ino groaned. "Come on Tenten, we're going _clubbing_ not training. Let go a little, what are you going to wear? You said you didn't have any dresses."

"I don't have any dresses, I don't need any."

"You can burrow one of mine, if you want," Suggested Sakura. She had been nice during the shopping trip, minding her own business, unlike Ino.

"Why do I have to wear a dressssssssssss?" Tenten slumped.

"Because we're going to a club, not training, like I said! Stop complaining, you sound like a four year old." She continued scanning the racks of dresses. "Look, just tell me what you want to wear and I'll get find it. And it has to be a dress."

Tenten was not as determined about this as Ino was, so after debating within herself whether to stand up for herself, or just let it go, she decided on the latter. "Okay. Something that's not revealing and not tight, and a colour that doesn't stand out."

With the look on Ino's face, she obviously didn't like Tentens choice in dresses, but she went along with it all the same, coming up with two dresses in the matter of seconds.

"I couldn't get what you wanted because it sounded like a sack, but these two seem good enough."

She held them up. They were both black. One was black velvet and covered all places necessary, but was tight fitting. The other was a navy dress, with a plunging neckline, and loosely flowed down from the hips.

Tenten didn't know which one to choose, they both covered different areas of what she asked, so she shrugged. "Whichever one is cheaper."

Ino handed her the velvet dress. "Go try it on."

* * *

"Ino, that dress was the more expensive one." Sakura said. "You saw how much money she bought with her; it wasn't enough for half of that dress."

Ino grinned back at her favourite pink haired kunoichi (ahem- only pink hair kunoichi) "I know. I'm feeling generous today."

"What does that even mean, Ino pig? Giving her the more expensive dress isn't being generous."

"The other one was ugly, and that's not what I meant by being generous." Ino strode over to the counter. She wasn't even sure why she was doing this, it wasn't like her and Tenten were close at all, but she liked the girl. She was what Ino wished she could be, a strong woman with no desire to fix up her imperfections or impress guys all the time – but the one thing that Ino had that Tenten didn't was that she knew how to have fun, and she had made it her mission to make sure Tenten learned how to have fun, too.

The lady at the counter smiled, and said a well-rehearsed, "Hi, how can I help you?"

Ino put a wad of cash on the counter. "My friend in there is trying on a dress. When she comes out, she's going to be all like 'this is too expensive, blah blah blah, I can't buy it, blah blah blah' and you're going to tell her it's on sale. This cash should be enough for most of the dress, plus a little for you giving me this favour. Is that okay?"

The lady was clearly caught off guard but agreed all the same. Ino just hoped that the dress looked good.

* * *

Tenten walked out of the change room. Surprisingly, she liked the dress. She didn't like the price. Maybe she would burrow one of Sakura's dresses after all.

She smiled as she walked out. "I like it, but it's too much."

She thought she saw Ino smirk from behind all the clothes that were piled up on her arm.

"That ones on sale. Twenty-five dollars." Tenten gaped at the shop clerk.

"Twenty-five dollars? That's an eighth of the previous price!"

The lady just smiled and said "Well, would you like to buy it now?"

"Yes, definitely." Tenten headed over to the counter and handed over the money. She was surprised at herself; she was actually happy about buying a dress. She wondered if Ino had slipped something weird into her drink before they got here.

After she had purchased the dress she joined the other girls at browsing clothes, although she had no plans to buy anything else.

"Well, Tenten," Ino started. "I don't think I'd ever see you look so excited for a dress."

Tenten begun to protest, but instead she smiled. "Me neither. I'd never thought I would be excited for clubbing either."

Ino shrugged back at her. "What can I say? We make things fun."

She laughed. Ino was 100 per cent right.

* * *

The girls had agreed to get ready at Tentens house, as she was the only one who lived alone, and she was surprised when Hinata showed up with the others as they hadn't mentioned it before, but she was glad all the same.

The girls had made Tenten wear her hair in something other than buns, and originally they pushed to make her wear it down all together, but with great effort she ended up convincing them to let her wear her hair in a high ponytail that flowed down to mid back. She wore flat, chunky boots with her dress, despite the protests of Ino saying she should wear heels. Ino had given in once she showed her how well she walked in heels (they all had said she looked like a penguin.)

Tenten had never been clubbing before, but she had always had an idea that she would have to wait in line to get in. She didn't think she would have to wait 15 solid minutes.

They were in line with all the girls, along with Kiba (dogless for the first time ever), Neji, Shikamaru and Choji (Ino had invited them along) and she had to admit – out of all of them, Neji looked the best. He was wearing a loose fitting dress top with normal trousers, and even though it wasn't anything too 'special', it looked better than anything she had ever seen him in. She secretly hoped that he noticed her, too, although she wasn't feeling particularly confident in a dress so skin tight.

Tenten was getting fidgety and nervous, a trait unlike her.

"Do I look okay?" She whispered to Ino.

"You look great, don't stress."

"There's one thing you need to fix, though." A familiar voice behind her said. She turned around to Neji, ignoring the death stare Ino was giving him.

Before she could say anything, he gently pulled the hair tie out of her hair, letting it flow freely down her back.

"That's better," he smirked, and went ahead to the club.

Tenten was frozen in place. What had just happened?

"Ma'am, are you going to go in?" the security guard asked.

"Oh! Sorry!" Tenten snapped out of her trance and sped in there so fast she nearly fell over. Ino, beside her, chuckled.

The club looked more like a bar with a massive dancefloor. Was that what all clubs looked like? Tenten wasn't sure. The place wasn't as modern as she had thought it would've been, but it wasn't like it was a dump, either. All in all, the place had a nice vibe to it. They even played good music.

"I hate this music," Ino complained. "What was Kiba thinking?" She sighed. "Well, I guess the only thing to do now is to get blind drunk. You can come if you want, or join the other girls on the dance floor. You don't seem like the kind of girl to drink so I assume you'll be going to the dance floor." Ino winked at her and walked off.

Tenten did what Ino expected, and dawdled her way to the dance floor. She averted the gazes of people looking at her, and tried to suck in her stomach as subtly as possible, so they would stop looking. Why on earth did she buy this dress?

A bigger problem arose as she reached Hinata and Sakura on the dance floor. How on earth was she supposed to dance? She genuinely really liked this music – she listened to this band at home, but it wasn't like she could grab her hairbrush and start belting the lyrics out to it right here and now. She felt like a mess. Heck, even Hinata looked more confident than her.

Sakura had obviously noticed her nervousness, because she grabbed her attention with a pat on the shoulder. "Have fun! It may not be the best of music, but it's a club all the same." _Why is everyone bagging this music? It's amazing_.

Despite her urge to defend the band, she smiled back and tried to forget Ino and Sakura had said anything. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Tenten quickly scanned the surrounding area. Everyone had a different way of dancing, but they all seemed to know what they were doing, and they looked good doing it

She rolled her eyes at herself. She couldn't believe she was actually excited for this a day earlier.

"Hey guys, I'm going to go get a drink." The other girls were too engulfed in dancing to even notice her speak up or scoot away.

The dance floor was so packed with people grinding on one another she could barely squeeze through without being touched in places she really didn't want to be touched in, but after a bit of squeezing, Tenten could finally see the bar in sight. She'd never of thought she could be so relieved

BAM!

A searing pain throbbed through Tenten's right arm, where some idiot had bumped into her.

"Hey! Sorry little lady," they shouted, over the music.

"It's okay," she muttered back, making her way through the rest of the crowd.

"Hey, wait up!" They shouted from behind her. She pretended she didn't hear them, until a hand touched her on the same shoulder she'd just hit.

"Ow!" It didn't actually hurt, but it seemed that the only way to make herself feel better right now was to make others feel bad for her.

"Oh, sorry, sorry! I was going to say let me buy you a drink to make up for it, but let's make that two now, eh?"

She remembered the glares that Neji used on her to make her shut up, and she wondered if it would work on this guy.

Tenten spun around on her heels, and before she could stare the guy to his grave, she was stricken with a sense of overwhelming surprise.

"_Kiba?_" She all but shouted, earning her a few gazes from nearby partygoers.

"Oh, Tenten. Sorry, I didn't recognise you from the back with your hair down." He grinned sheepishly. "It sure is long."

She smiled at him. At least he wasn't hitting on her anymore. "It's okay," she said, and spun back around, heading for the bar.

He didn't seem to get the message, because he trailed behind her. "You know, that offer is still up if youwant."

So much for not hitting on her.

"I don't drink," she replied, without turning around.

"Well, why not accompany me while I drink?" To that she just snorted.

When they reached the bar, he sat down beside her, obviously not caring about her answer (or lack of) before.

"I'll just have raspberry lemonade, please," she told the bartender.

"I'll have Smirnoff watered down with a bit of coke," he said after her.

When their drinks arrived, Kiba shifted in his seat a little, seemingly intimidated by the awkward silence.

"So," he began, "why so down in the dumps?"

She sipped at her lemonade. "I don't want to be here. I'd rather be at home, or training."

He chuckled to himself. "You sure are dedicated. That doesn't mean you can't have fun though."

She rolled her eyes back at him, "I know that, this just isn't my idea of fun."

"Why not? There's great music, a good atmosphere, and drinks. What's not to love?" He grinned clumsily, bearing his canines.

"You like this music?" She asked. Before he could answer, she kept going. "That's awesome! Everyone's been slamming it all night, but this is the kind of music I like. I don't know what else they play at clubs, this is the first one I've been to." She blurted the last bit out without thinking, and resisted the urge to cover her mouth in embarrassment. He did _not _need to know that.

"Ah. So that's why you're miserable?"

She tried the Neji glare this time, which had no effect.

Instead of saying anything, he simply pushed his drink over to her, reminding her of what Neji had done at ichiraku, except this time she wasn't going to blindly drink it all down.

"Have it," he urged. "You'll have fun."

"I told you, I don't drink."

"What's the harm in trying? Just have a sip."

Tenten had always thought herself not to be one to give into peer pressure, but considering this week she had bought an impractical dress, wore her hair in something other than buns, and gone clubbing, she thought maybe she should just go for it.

Drinking was nothing like any of those, though.

A part of her was very against it, but the other part had sparked an interest and was very keen on trying it.

Before she could convince herself not to, she grabbed the glass and chugged half of it in one shot.

He grinned. "So, you don't drink?"

"That was disgusting," she commented.

He looked as if he was about to pat her on the shoulder, and then thought against it, putting his arm around her.

"What are you _doing?_"

"I was going to pat you on the shoulder, for sympathy ya know, but then I remembered that's where I hit you. Sorry." His arm returned to his side.

She laughed. Surprisingly, she didn't care. "Heeey, Kiba. Why don't you say we go dance? Although, I can't really dance, but let's go do it anyways."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Okay, let's roll."

* * *

Neji had seen Tenten and Kiba when they were on the other side of the bar, he had seen them drink together, and he had seen them leave, to dance. Currently, he was watching them dance together, although nobody would ever suspect that, considering his back was turned away from the dance floor.

They weren't dancing like the other couples on the dance floor. They weren't grinding, or even touching that much. No, they were facing each other, smiling, laughing, singing along to the words, and looking as if they were actually having fun.

That was what made him _furious_.

He didn't even understand why he felt so mad; Tenten was a team mate, and he hadn't felt anything for her in the whole time they'd been in the same team. In fact, Neji hadn't felt anything romantic towards anyone in his whole life, now was no exception to that rule. Checking on her just meant he was checking on a comrades well-being, as he had many times before.

Forcing himself to turn the Byakugan off, he called over the bartender, handing over his empty cup.

"Fill the whole thing with vodka."

If the bartender had looked surprised, Neji didn't notice, as his eyes were fixated on a spot on the wall as he tried to clear his head.

The drink arrived, and before he could down it all, a voice sounded from beside him.

"Is that water? I could _really_ use a refresher." He didn't look at the woman, but he noted that she had a seductive, silky voice. Like he cared right now.

"No, it's all vodka." He replied, still not looking at her.

"Even better." Her fingerprints brushed his leg, to which he responded to by shifting away from her. "Oh? You really think you can drink all that by yourself?"

This time, he shifted himself so he was looking straight at her. She had long blonde hair, rivalling the length of even Ino's, although it wasn't tied up like hers. Her eyes were a light blue, that looked almost creepy in the light of the bar. She had obviously been sweating, because her white top clung to her chest, outlining a chest size that should have been impossible with the size of her waist.

She giggled, "You like what you see?"

"No. If you want a drink, buy your own," he said, looking her straight in the eye, before turning away. He hoped she would let it go; he had no time for this.

She gasped next to him, followed by a giggle. "Whatever you say, hun." She got up out of her seat, but before leaving, she slipped a note into his pocket, and gently touched his face, to which he didn't respond to. "My number, if you ever need it."

"Yeah, right," he mumbled to himself, once she was out of hearing range. He took a sip of his drink, welcoming the familiar burning taste.

_Time to check on them, again_, he thought, feeling slightly guilty, but a little bit too tipsy to stop himself.

_Byakugan!_

Neji waited, but nothing happened. He probably just had to focus his chakra more when he had been drinking.

He built up chakra to his eyes, waiting to release it in one big burst.

_Byakugan!_

It didn't work.

_What the hell? _He thought.

Before he started building up chakra the third time, he remembered that he was on a mission, and the sole reason that this mission was on was because _shinobi couldn't use their jutsu_.

"Shit!" He cried out.

Neji spun around on his chair, scanning the area for the blonde haired woman. It had to be her, considering how perfectly his byakugan was working just minutes ago.

She was nowhere in sight. His eyes settled on the place where Tenten and Kiba had been before, but they weren't there anymore. Panicking, he scanned the room, this time looking for Tenten or Kiba rather than the woman. He silently cursed himself for not having his priorities straight, but continued the search, until his eyes found a brown haired couple headed for the door outside.

_Shit. Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit!_

He could go after them, but what would Tenten think of him? He had no business in her personal affairs, but he didn't want to stay here. He felt like a vulnerable mess.

Only one place to go, now.

* * *

"Youuuuu'd better hope this is veeerry im-por-tant, Nejiiiii," The Hokage slurred. He wasn't sure if she was drunk or tired.

"My byakugan has ceased working, Hokage."

She raised an eyebrow. "You couldn't have waited til tomorrow?" Her voice was still slightly iffy, but she sounded more business-like now.

"I thought it would be an important matter," he had thought it was important, but the main reason he'd come was because he wanted away from that wretched club but didn't have any desire to return to the Hyuga compound.

"You're right, it is a very important matter and I need to know all about it right now. I'm just a liiiiittle trunk. That's tired and drunk."

Neji would've sighed if he wasn't in front of the Hokage. "Sorry, milady. I can come back tomorrow morning, I know it was inappropriate of me to come at this hour, I must have just been stressed."

She smiled sympathetically, although he hadn't thought drunken people could be genuinely sympathetic. Maybe it was simply his inebriation causing him to mistake a smile as something sympathetic.

"Theres only 4 hours til 5, which is the start of the work day for me," she paused, and huffed at her own statement. "You can stay in a spare room til then."

"With all due respect, milady, that's not needed. If you believe it's that urgent, I can write a report now, while you go back to sleep."

"Would you stop being so uptight? I'm trying to be nice, you look like a mess." She was probably right. He didn't want to go back home, although he wasn't sure what they would do if he didn't return. He was sure he could pass it off as an emergency with the Hokage and they would understand, plus he needed the time away from them, just for tonight.

"The room is out that door and three to the left. It's pretty weird how they have spare rooms up here, huh? Anyways, take it or leave it. I expect you here at 5 tomorrow all the same."

He smiled. Although she had a scary demeanour, the Hokage was truly a nice lady. "Thank you, Lady Hokage."

And with that, he headed out the door and into his room for the night.

* * *

Tenten hadn't even begun to feel the embarrassment of how much of a lightweight she was, not to mention how horrible her dancing _and _singing was, when Kiba began laughing hysterically at nothing in particular.

"Whats funny?!"

"Nice underwear, Tenten," freeing one of his arms that was gripping his stomach from his fit of laughter, he pointed at a pair of undies she had unintentionally left on the floor from earlier today, when the girls were trying to make her wear 'sexy underwear' for tonight. They were frilly, pink things that you would expect to see a three year old wear.

She fell backwards onto her bed, staring at the ceiling. "How embarrassing. I don't think I'll ever live this night down."

He collapsed on the bed next to her, hands behind his head. "Don't be embarrassed. You had fun, didn't you? I know I did."

She felt a light blush come to her cheeks. She really didn't think anyone had told her they had had _fun_ with her before. "Yeah, I guess I did have fun."

"So, let's talk sleeping arrangements," he said. "Want me to sleep on the couch?"

She laughed. "No way. You'll have back problems for the rest of your life. You can sleep in here, I'll sleep on the couch."

"But won't you get back problems for the rest of your life?"

"I've had that couch for years, I'm tough enough to handle it now." She grinned at the ceiling.

"What kind of guy would let the girl take the couch?"

"Don't let your gentlemanly ego get in the way of the future of your spine." She sighed. "Why don't we just both sleep in here? It's a double bed, there will be enough room."

For the first time in her life, she heard Kiba stutter. "A-are you sure?"

"It's fine. Just turn the light off for me while I get in bed, alright?"

He got up off the bed and saluted her, "Sir, yes, sir!"

She scrambled into bed and once the lights were out, she felt him get in, too. Her heartbeat was rising. Was it a bad idea to invite a boy into her bed?

Kiba didn't relax and lie down like Tenten had, instead, he put an arm on either side of her face, hesitantly. She felt him lower his face towards hers, until their lips were merely millimetres away.

She begun breathing heavily, and she could hear him do the same. Before she could realise what was happening, his lips lightly brushed hers.

BAM!

As if that light touch sparked a nerve, Tentens reflexes snapped her head to the side and a little bit up, successfully knocking Kiba hard on the head.

"Ow," he moaned.

"Sorry, I, uh… Thought I had to get you back for earlier tonight! Aha… ha ha… haaa." Her fake laughter was drowned out by silence.

"I'm sorry," she said, genuinely this time.

"No, it's not your fault. I knew you were new to this whole clubbing thing, so when I came home with you I was kind of expecting an awkward sleepover, not a sharing bed thing. I should've known." He sounded sad, but it was hard to tell in the dark.

"I know how the whole 'clubbing thing' works, you were just being so kind that I thought you would overlook it." Tenten wasn't quite sure what she was saying, but she didn't make a move to stop herself. What she was saying was the truth, after all.

"I understand," he said, noticeably gloomy this time. "I'll go sleep on the couch, or leave if you want me to." He begun to get up, but stopped when Tenten laughed at him.

"I'd never thought I would hear the Kiba Inuzuka sound so sad. Whos down in the dumps now?" she teased him. "You can still sleep in here. Just don't make any moves, okay?"

"You sure?" He asked.

"Yeah," she smiled, even though she knew he couldn't see it.

She could almost feel the tension leave the room. Kiba relaxed in the bed, but after a few minutes he shifted uncomfortably.

"Um," he started. Suddenly, his arm was around her torso, in a nice way, rather than a get-in-my-pants kind of way. "Can I do this?"

She giggled to herself. There sure was a lot more to Kiba than meets the eye. "Yeah," she replied, as she snuggled up next to the warm boy.

* * *

**Authors note: Okay, so maybe it wasn't as exciting as I'd hoped to make it, but things are happening now all the same.**

**I hope you enjoyed it, and please review (I don't mean to sound desperate but I feel as if I really need to know how I'm going with this.)**

**Next chapter will be up soon!**


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